Tag: India-Pakistan bilateral at Ufa

It’s official! Ending feverish speculation over the last few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the SCO summit in the Russian city of Ufa on July 10. The last time the leaders of the two countries held talks was during the visit of Nawaz Sharif to New Delhi to attend the inauguration of the Modi government. At that time, they spoke about ushering in a new chapter in bilateral ties but those hopes were belied when Pakistan’s High Commissioner invited Kashmiri separatist leaders, which was immediately denounced by New Delhi and cited as the reason for cancelling the talks between the foreign secretaries in August last year. Finally, Prime Minister Modi’s telephone call to Mr Sharif to greet him before the holy month of Ramzan broke the ice, fueling speculation about a possible meeting in Ufa. The agenda for talks is not clear, but it is expected to focus on exploring possibilities for revival of limited dialogue between the two countries. Mr Sharif is expected to invite Mr Modi to Islamabad for the 19th SAARC summit his country will hold in 2016.